Posts Tagged: "estoppel"

CAFC Reversal Allows APA Claim Against USPTO to Proceed

Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) reversed a decision of the U.S.  District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia affirming the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director’s vacatur of ex parte reexamination proceedings based on the estoppel provision of the inter partes review (IPR) regime. In 2015, Vivint, Inc. sued Alarm.com for infringement of three patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 6,147,601 (the ‘601 patent), 6,462,654 (the ‘654 patent), and 6,535,123 (the ‘123 patent). In response, Alarm.com filed several petitions for IPR, which culminated in three final written decisions in 2017. On review, the CAFC affirmed the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that Alarm.com had failed to satisfy its burden of proving unpatentable claim 19 of the ‘601 patent, claim 18 of the ‘123 patent and claims 17,18, 22, 25, and 28 of the ‘654 patent.

CAFC Orders New Trial on Damages, Clarifies IPR Estoppel Rule in Appeal of Caltech’s $1.1 Billion Win Against Apple and Broadcom

On February 4, in a mixed precedential decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed, vacated, and remanded in part a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in a patent infringement suit filed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) against Broadcom Limited, Broadcom Corporation, and Avago Technologies (collectively “Broadcom) and Apple Inc. The suit was related to Caltech’s U.S. Patent 7,116,710 (‘710 patent), U.S. Patent 7,421,032 (‘032 patent), and U.S. Patent 7,916,781 (‘781 patent). The CAFC affirmed the district court’s denial of judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) on infringement because the jury’s verdict of infringement of the declared claims of the ‘710 and ‘032 patents was supported by substantial evidence and the district court’s construction of the claim limitation “repeat” was not erroneous.

CAFC Clears L’Oréal of Trade Secret Misappropriation, Orders New Trial on Patent Infringement

On May 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), reversed in part, affirmed in part, vacated in part, dismissed in part, and remanded a judgment in an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. L’Oréal USA, Inc., L’Oréal USA Products, Inc., L’Oréal USA S/D, Inc., and Redken 5th Avenue NYC, LLC. (collectively, “L’Oréal”) appealed the district court’s ruling in favor of plaintiffs Liqwd, Inc. and Olaplex, LLC, which sued L’Oréal for patent infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of a non-disclosure agreement. 

CAFC Weighs in Again on IPR Joinder Estoppel, Affirms PTAB Holding that Uniloc Patent Claims are Obvious

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) ruled yesterday in Uniloc v. Facebook, Inc., WhatsApp, Inc. that the “no appeal” provision of 35 U.S.C. § 314 does not preclude the court from reviewing a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding that a petitioner is not estopped from maintaining an IPR proceeding under the IPR estoppel provision of 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(1). However, the court noted that its decision was based on the particular facts of this case, where “the alleged estoppel-triggering event occurred after institution.”

CAFC Issues Modified Opinion on IPR Estoppel Following Panel Rehearing Petition

On November 20, the Federal Circuit issued a modified opinion following a petition for panel rehearing filed by Network-1. The petition came after the CAFC affirmed-in-part and reversed-in-part a district court’s claim construction and remanded the case to the district court on September 24, 2020, in Network-1 Technologies, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Company. In the revised opinion, the CAFC said that it would not consider Network-1’s alternative grounds for granting a judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) on validity nor its new trial motion in the first instance.